A large room was packed Wednesday night in the 200 building as students, faculty and community members gathered to celebrate the launch of the spring issue of the bi-yearly Fullerton College online literary journal LiveWire.

The room was transformed into a gallery space and performance area, open to any members of the community who cared to join.

The night included performances from contributors to the spring edition of LiveWire, a showing by featured artists and readings by anyone who signed up for the open mic portion.

The event started at 7:00 p.m. and within five minutes, every seat was taken. People were still trickling in half an hour later and the latecomers began to sit cross legged on the floor. The cookies and brownies offered at the event had no chance, they were gone within an hour.

Like the journal, the event was an artistic and literary smorgasbord of photos, spoken word poems, creative fiction and emotional non-fiction pieces.

The subject matter was diverse. The readings touched on personal family issues, rape culture, domestic abuse, problematic modern technology, sexual infatuation and cupcakes.

Celida Cambuston, a LiveWire contributor and child development major, was there to perform her short poem, “Under The Influence.”

It was only her second time performing anywhere so she appreciated having a space that was open to artistic expression.

“It’s nice to have a community of people here who share an interest in similar things,” Cambuston said.

The audience was definitely engaged. They laughed at the funny parts, looked solemn during the sad parts and applauded with earnest at the conclusion of every speaker.

“That’s one of the nicest things to come out of a experience like this,” said Amanda Welzer, LiveWire advisor. “It’s a catharsis for the students who do the writing and also for the community who gets to listen.”

The latest issue of LiveWire can be accessed online at http://lwjournal.fullcoll.edu/.